'Pokemon Go' Is Helping GameStop Increase Sales

(Photo : Getty Images/Olivia Harris)

It seems like everyone is playing "Pokemon Go," but it's not just gamers who are enjoying the game. According to GameStop CEO Paul Raines, Niantic's latest game is helping the retail store.

Appearing on CNBC, Raines said hundreds of GameStops are marked as PokeStops and Gyms in "Pokemon Go," bringing more people to the stores and increasing sales.

"We surveyed our stores, and we had 462 stores just this past weekend that are Pokemon Stops or Poke Gyms, so we did some family events and our sales were up 100 percent in those stores," he said.

Raines didn't say what he was comparing the 100 percent figure against but whatever it is, it's still a large figure.

According to Raines, the store's Pokemon merchandise is also seeing a boost, going "up significantly across the board. GameStop, which owns ThinkGeek, is the largest Pokemon games and collectables distributor in the world.

"We're very happy to see all this excitement around Pokemon in what is traditionally a slower time of the year for video games," Raines said. "It's really great to see Pokemon and Nintendo re-investing in that IP. It's great to see [the Pokemon franchise] transitioning over into the mobile space."

In related "Pokemon Go" news, it was revealed that the reason why "Pokemon Go" isn't available in Japan yet is because of a server issue.

"At present, the server in Japan is not powerful enough," Niantic Labs CEO John Hanke told Forbes. "We are working hard with our partners in Japan to enable the servers to keep up with demand once the game goes online there. We expect it to be released by the end of July."